Here’s a story about Albany cops issuing special stickers to immunize their families and friends from parking tickets. Another example of abuse of power, which costs a strapped city a lot of money, and creates a privileged class of mostly non-residents. As did the Long Island Railroad abusers and their apologists, many commentators on this story downplayed the impact of what the cops here did, and emphasized that they risk their lives every day on their jobs. When I lived in NYC and couldn’t even walk on the sidewalk in front of my local precinct because all the personal cars of the cops who worked there were parked on it, I resented their privilege but, even more so, their hypocrisy. If anyone should obey the law, it’s those who enforce it. Same for the Albany cops. Extending their personal abuse to family and friends makes it even worse.

Here’s a TU update, showing that, if you were on a special list, you didn’t even need to have a sticker to get free parking in downtown Albany. I hope the city holds the beneficiaries and perpetrators of this scheme financially responsible for its losses. If not, those who received and paid tickets should sue.